It’s almost flat with 2x10 rafters and sealed plywood. Possibly asphalt shingles, maybe a tin roof

Looks like you should have plenty of structure under it. When I hear Maine I think feet of snow!..... A state I have always wanted to visit, it sure sounds lovely up there. 

I will mention shingles and flat don't do well together. If I recall correctly they like to see a 4/12 pitch or more for them.

Good news and bad news. Good news, the rafters and zip boards are all up. The bad news is the hack who built the garage did nothing properly, from stapling on the overhanging drip edge the not having rafters and studs (none of them) 16” on center, which means that we had to space the rafters all funny. 

From the land of the desert sun, flat roofs and LEAKS ABOUNDING!  Please put a pitch on it!

Ah yes "vernacular architecture"!  When I was looking for a house to buy I toured several old adobes that didn't have any 90 degree corners in them---not floor to wall, wall to ceiling, not door frames. So non euclidean I started watching for the Innsmouth look.

Asphalt shingles is not an option I would recommend. Most manufactures require a 4/12 pitch, but may reduce that to 3/12 if you use ice guard and reduce the shingle exposure. 

Your roof looks to be a 1/12 pitch or less. If it is that flat screw down metal roofing is also not recommended. A concealed fastener standing seam roof may be ok if installed and flashed properly. Standing seam will probably require a layer of underlayment (synthetic felt is the best) of a slip surface over the Zip panels to maintain warranty.

With how flat it looks, I would think a rubber roof (fully adhered) would be your best bet. Removing the shingles on the existing and extend your rubber at 24-30 inches would be best.

As Marcusb mentioned snow load would be a concern of mine. Almost more so ice loading could be a big problem depending on how you insulate the roof.

snow load isn't a problem due to the rough cut 2x10 rafters, which should hold the snow we get each year just fine. I'll talk to my dad about just using rubber, but he wants to do shingles. The pitch definitely isn't changing now!

I feel your pain Owen.  I had to tear down a cabin on the land we bought this year, move all the parts, and rebuild it.  I was stuck with a lot of the cob-job things the guy who built it did.  I corrected as many as I could along the way.  Greater than 7/12 pitch on my roof.  I am worried about your pitch though because you can get a pretty severe snow load in Maine.  That load transfers to your walls so you'll need to look at rafter ties and such to keep those walls from wanting to spread out under a full snow load.  Anymore updates?  

I'm with Fowllife, sounds like he's put on a roof or two. 

Matching up with a shingle roof snow load isn't up to the rafters to deal with. Freeze thaw will cause water to flow under the uphill shingles then freeze and peal them off the roof. This is a B A D thing. I'd seriously consider pealing up the bottom several feet of shingle and laying Grace water shielding starting on the existing roof and extending to cover the entire new one. And that's JUST the water proofing under the roofing.

I suppose it's getting too late in the season to take the existing shingle roof off completely and extending the new roof to the old peak? 

Frosty The Lucky.

On 11/13/2019 at 6:52 PM, Frosty said:

laying Grace water shielding starting on the existing roof and extending to cover the entire new one.

That’s exactly what we did Frosty. There’s 5/8 ZIP board screwed down covered at every opening with ZIP tape. Then proper flashing and drip edge and then Grace with asphalt (not shingles) on top. 

Nice, aught to be snug and dry. It's funny, I haven't put a roof on since the early '70s. and it came back pretty well. Close enough I'd know where to look up the details anyway. When I said shingles I meant asphalt. I've never done a shake roof I don't think the guy I roofed with back then had done one either. 

Old memories, back breaking work, glad I found something else. Packing bundles up a ladder, 4 to a square, then on your knees nailing or stapling. <shudder>

Frosty The Lucky.

Well, the rest of the lumber just arrived. A couple hundred pieces of shiplap, 2x4s, tongue and groove, and the like. For some reason the picture won't load, probably because the definition is too high. I'll see if I can get it working though.

 

What I have to do with Windows, is right click on the image and select edit, then it opens in Paint, select resize and make it 50% and save as adding a  -1 to the name. Then the pictures upload with out timing out.

Well, I got my forge yesterday. My thanks to Bob Lavoie of the NEB for building me this forge. I’ve got a couple hundred pounds of anthracite coal sitting in the shop, so now I’m just waiting for my electric blower to get here so I can start forging. Any tips on using anthracite?

Really nice looking forge.

Yep...

 

Thanks Irondragon. Also, my forge walls are made of 1” thick dry pine shiplap. I want to run a 10” pipe out through the walls for my forge chimney. Do I have to insulate around the pipe or do anything special to prevent a fire?

Take a look online for stove pipe and fittings. We used to call wall penetration fire spacing, "Wall Jacks" but I don't think we knew the real name back when. The outside will be called flashing and is designed for a water tight wall penetration. 

Everything you'll need is available I just hope the prices don't make you choke too badly. No need to buy fancy stuff a forge won't need double or triple wall pipe. The wall jack should take care of that safety issue. 

 Frosty The Lucky.

So, an update. I got an electric blower that seems fairly powerful, along with a variac (?) which makes it very easy to fine-tune the airflow. Can I mount the blower like in the pictures without it being a problem? It’s right up against the tuyere and any plastic parts (like those in the motor) are at least 6-7” away from the bottom of the firepot. 

I would probably mount it a little farther away, just to be safe. Is that one of the blowers made in Russia, I've seen some good reviews about them. Now that I think about it those were hand crank blowers.

Edited June 6, 20206 yr by Irondragon Forge & Clay
add thought

Thanks for the advice irondragon. It’s a Chinese made blower, but it seems well made and powerful. 

I remember where I've seen them on Amazon, mostly good reviews too.

The forge has been working very well over the past couple weeks. I’ve learned to light the anthracite with just paper and wood, which is good. I even made a nail! Not a very good nail, but still. My dad and I also got a bench built and another couple in the works. 

Also, what do you do with clinker? I have a 3 gallon bucket full of it, and I’m gonna need to dump it soon. 

Pothole filler for a dirt driveway.

Do you have a gravel driveway, icy walks in winter? It's pretty non-toxic on any scale a landfill shouldn't have a problem, less than with dumping burn barrels. 

Frosty The Lucky.